WeightMatters » psychology of eating

Psychologists At The Forefront Of Weight Management

jameslamper — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:51:31 +0000

Over the last few decades, the dramatic rise in pediatric obesity rates has emerged as a public health threat requiring urgent attention. The responsibility of identifying and treating eating and weight-related problems early in children and adolescents falls to health care providers and other professionals who work with the child, according to Professor Denise Wilfley from the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine

Wilfley's review of the causes, consequences, and early intervention of eating and weight-related problems highlights the important roles of psychologists in this effort.

The review examines the scope of the obesity problem, highlighting the dramatic increases in childhood obesity. The authors focus on the causes of eating- and weight-related problems in children and adolescents, attending to the complex interactions between environmental and biological factors, and dysregulated eating behaviors known as appetitive traits. In particular, the authors discuss binge eating and loss-of-control eating; satiety responsiveness or eating in the absence of hunger; motivation to eat; and impulsivity. For each trait, the authors identify screening approaches, as well as targeted intervention strategies that can be implemented by providers.

The authors find that, by far, the most effective strategies to combat childhood obesity are lifestyle behavioral interventions, and those involving the whole family in particular. These interventions promote small, successive changes in children's dietary and physical activity behaviors through the use of behavior change strategies and familial support.

Exercise Does Lead to Weight Loss – Behavioural Change

WeightMatters — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:42:34 +0000

Yesterday I talked about reading an article by Dan Roberts in the Telegraph titled ‘Why your workout isn’t and the flaws in it’s argument in relation to the Physiological Adaptations which are Compensatory Responses to Exercise. I pointed out that there is individual variability in every piece of research conducted, and for this reason any expectation of Weight Loss following exercise must be valued against an individual’s physiology and psychology – one size doesn’t fit all!

You can also get Compensatory Responses to Exercise, which are Behavioural. Changes in behaviour, which arise as a result of exercise, may be automatic, resulting from physical changes such as metabolic adaptations and changes to the appetite system.

For example if metabolism slows down a person may go to sleep earlier, be more tired and less likely to move around when they are not exercising. A decrease in normal lifestyle activity resulting from fatigue or metabolic slowdown can deprive the system of a valuable source of energy expenditure.

When there are changes to the appetite system, this can lead to eating that is faster, more frequent or high in energy dense food. Other behavioural changes, which result from exercise, are volitional and purposeful.

Some people reward themselves for exercising by having a glass of wine and a pub lunch after a walk, or a coffee and a cereal bar after a swim. Misjudgement here means people eat more calories than they have expended. It may take an hour to expend only 200 calories with the most vigorous activity, while they can eat 600 calories in a slice of cake in a mater of minutes. So people who reward themselves for exercise are likely to gain weight.

A final behavioural response to activity is compliance, with the amount and intensity of activity reducing over time as a result of many complex motivational factors. We all start off with good intentions, but stuff just gets in the way.

So once again there are various behavioural reasons why research data will give mixed or sometimes inconclusive results. We are all different and will react to different life factors in different ways. Our lifestyle, physiology and psychology all collude to either help us maintain weight, gain weight or lose weight. How are your life factors balancing at the moment?

In the New Year, starting 1st January 2010, I will be starting a daily video blog of my attempt to lose weight leading to my 40th birthday on May 12th 2010. I want to share my personal experiences; feelings and insights into a diary to share with my readers, and at the same time combine it with the education that I give my clients here at the WeightMatters Clinic. Stay tuned and spread the word – it will be an interesting experiment!

James

Exercise Does Lead to Weight Loss – Part 1 of 5

WeightMatters — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:26:44 +0000

Reading the article by Dan Roberts in the Telegraph today ‘Why your workout isn’t working’ is pretty lame and only shows a sensationalist view backed by poor understanding of the subject matter.

Fact: Exercise combined with healthy eating does lead to successful weight loss and weight maintenance – let me explain.

The NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) 2006 Obesity Guidelines recommend Diet and Lifestyle Interventions combined with Behavioural Therapy as the ‘best’ way to help people lose weight and maintain it. There is a wealth of studies that show, on average, high levels of activity predict successful weight loss.

Roberts uses the Queensland data to start his argument. He focuses on the fact that half of the research participants did not reach their predicted weight loss – he fails to highlight that half of them did! Surely this proves that regular exercise can help SOME people lose weight. Why not others? Well if he bothered to ask an Eating Therapist he would know that this variability in results could be down to Compliance – this is where people say they have followed the instructions, but really they have fallen short along the way. Supervised exercise for 12 weeks is great, but no change to their diet – does this mean that people could eat whatever they wanted. Exercise can affect our physiology in various ways.

Our bodies also have Compensatory Responses to Exercise, which undermine the calorie deficit of exercise within the energy systems of the body. This comes down to individual variability, which is one reason why half the people lost weight in the Queensland research and half did not.

Some people may experience Metabolic Adaptations to energy loss, which means their metabolic rate slows down. When people go on a diet and exercise, this would be a natural phenomenon as people are producing a calorie deficit, with poor eating quality and timing and exercise induced calorie burn. The body will slow its metabolism for protection and will be unwilling to give up its fat stores, with fear that it may be starving.

There are also changes to the appetite system that lead to changes in energy intake. Some people will experience increases in appetite, which will affect eating frequency and portion size. Other people will change their food (macronutrient) preference in favour of high energy density foods such as fats and sugars, which are automatic and unconscious.

The study also fails to mention the degree of Obesity each participant was classified at (there are Obesity levels 1-3) and whether they had full blood screens to determine whether they suffer from Insulin Resistance, which can also be described as being pre-diabetic. These individuals are unable to metabolise carbohydrate very well, and actually require exercise to change the ‘shimmer’ of the muscle cells to allow efficient glucose transport. The research does not seem to consider this as a reason for the data split.

My point here is to make sense of weigh loss research that is taken out of context and sensationalised by headline grabbing articles.

Exercise can and will lead to weight loss, but everyone is different, so one prescription will not be right for everyone. Effective weight loss will come from experts who are trained in understanding the ‘big picture’ of metabolism, the psychology of eating, healthy nutrition and the correct balance of exercise.

I got the balance right for Gary Barlow, and well, he’s looking great!

Over the next few days I will explain the Behavioural Change Compensatory Responses to Exercise, as well as describing the ideal exercise regime and optimal diet for Weight Loss. So please stay tuned and tell me what you think to my argument.

James

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